Information Commissioner’s appearance before the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance
September 17, 2024
Ottawa, ON
(Check against delivery)
Thank you for inviting me to discuss my office’s main estimates.
Since this is my first appearance before your committee, I will provide a brief overview of the access to information system and my mandate as Canada’s Information Commissioner.
To understand my mandate, it is important to recognize that I am an independent agent of Parliament whose role is defined in Part 1 of the Access to Information Act.
Specifically, the Act provides a right of access to information in accordance with the following principles:
- that government information should be available to the public;
- that necessary exceptions to the right of access should be limited and specific; and
- that decisions on the disclosure of government information should be reviewed independently of government.
The Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) holds the overall responsibility of administering the Act. This involves providing guidance and tools to government institutions with respect to their obligations in responding to access requests they receive.
Access to information requests can be made for any records under the control of a government institution. Approximately 260 institutions are subject to the Act.
My role as Information Commissioner is to investigate complaints relating to the processing of the requests by these institutions. Typically, complaints are submitted to my office when requesters are not satisfied with the amount of time that it is taking for an institution to respond, or if they believe that they have not received all of the information to which they are entitled.
Enhancing efficiency has been a priority for me since my first day on the job. For fiscal year 2023-2024, I am pleased to report that my office resolved nearly 25% more complaints than it registered. This helped us make real progress against our backlog of complaints.
Unfortunately, that progress and my office’s capacity to fulfill my independent legislative mandate are now at risk. This is because the additional financial resources that I received this fiscal year to cover negotiated collective agreement increases are not sufficient, resulting in a structural deficit.
This unforeseen financial predicament arises from TBS’ method for allocating funds to cover salary increases under new collective agreements they negociated. They omitted 29 full-time equivalents (FTEs) from their calculation, impacting employees within my Investigations and Legal Services teams. Importantly, this has resulted in a 3% budget shortfall, which represents the salary of about 6 investigators.
Most of these employees joined my organization after I was granted order-making power following amendments to the Act in 2019. They support me in discharging my new obligations and the additional responsibilities that come with them.
For a small organization like mine, this is a significant strain. Every employee plays a vital role, and losing even a few could deeply impact our ability to fulfill our mandate.
Ultimately, this budget shortfall will spell longer delays for those seeking information from government institutions.
Although I am an independent agent of Parliament, I do not have the ability to request funding directly from Parliament.
Whenever my office needs additional funding, I am obliged to submit a request to the Minister of Justice, who has his own priorities, who may or may not send my request to the Minister of Finance and eventually to the Treasury Board for approval.
This lengthy process forces me to seek funding through the very institutions that I am investigating. Frankly, this does not reflect my independence.
In that context, last June, I had to submit an off-cycle proposal to the Minister of Justice, requesting just over $400,000 in permanent funding to maintain current resource levels and operational capacity.
In response to my inquiries to officials at the Treasury Board Secretariat and the Department of Justice, I was informed that I was no different than any other department and that this was the only option available to me, despite my independence as an agent of Parliament.
I am still waiting for a response to my funding request. When I learned that I would be appearing before this committee, I reiterated the urgency of my request to the Minister of Justice and was able to arrange a call with him, but he is not available until October.
I strongly believe that funding for access to information should be seen as more than a budget line item. Access to information is not a service government chooses to provide to Canadians: it is a quasi-constitutional right and a legal obligation.
Of note, other agents of Parliament present today, namely the Chief Electoral Officer and the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, have independent funding mechanisms built into their legislation.
A more efficient funding model that reflects my independence as an agent of Parliament is not only an investment in democracy and public trust, it would be a concrete and positive step forward for transparency in our country.
On that, I will be happy to take your questions.